Infertility in mountain bikers

[bobbkr]

I just read an article on Yahoo about a study that showed a correlation between mountain biking and infertility in men. As usual the results were suspect.
I personally don't care. I would rather give up my left one than give up mountain biking!

[fsrslug]

I read an article on that this morning and posted a reply to what I think about it. It was a thread on www.umdstudents.com that was about the bike club and someone put a link to the article in it.
Here is the link if anyone cares.
http://www.umdstudents.com/viewtopic.php?t=1411

[egoo]

Whoever did that study should meet my 11 month old son. I think if anything, it just weens out the wimpy sperm, and the ones who are left are really fast and have good technical skills.

[Dave Weber]

Damn, don't let my girlfriend read this thread..that'll be the end of that...or maybe it will set her mind at ease. LOL :)

[chico]

I know my wife and I disagree with those studies. She miscarried in June and was pregnant again in July.
There. Add that to your data.

[grizzly adam]

Well, I've been riding significantly (mountain and road) since I was ten and so far nothing's happening over here. Maybe they need a pep talk or a MORC class. :(

[martini]

Well, after 15 years of riding, my wife and I are preggers. I worked at Q(a company with nothing BUT bikers for employees) for a few years and while I was there an astonishing number of paired folks got knocked up.

This 'study' is nothing but bunk used to scare the weak of mind in my opinion. Something used to sell junk friendly saddles, that's all its good for.

[zerpy]

I guess I would be interested to see statistics on how many people ignore numb crotch issues and how that correlates with the fertility probs. Then I'd like to see the data for the numb crotch bikers thrown out and see what happens to the stats. If you have numbness issues, I could maybe see it. But if your saddle doesn't make you numb, (like most people I know) I have a hard time buying that you're "at risk"

Speaking of that, I had a friend in HS that was hit in the crotch by a 90MPH fast ball (no cup) and was rendered sterile. He was a very popular guy:)

[ryno lite]

I saw an article on the subject in the Strib this past year on a study done in Europe on the subject. Sounds like you have to do some pretty incredible numbers to cause some damage. The numbers of miles they were talking about were the numbers the professional riders put in training and racing. Even serious road bike enthusiasts have trouble getting enough distance in to make a dent. It also said mountain biking tends not to be as bad cause we don't ride as long and the trails seem better on that than the roads (even though we deal with more bumps and jumps). Anyway, they came to the conclusion that the average mountain biker or road biker shouldn't have to worry much.

[SPR]

Originally posted by Tom S.
I pretty much believe this but wonder why the subject continues to come up in the general press. It seems that it's an annual article. Could it be maybe certain saddle mfg's are trying to boost sales and are using the media/press as their PR dept?:confused:
I tend to believe this too, what a great way to push a product with free publicity.
Granted professional road bikers don't experience the pounding that off road biking delivers but look at all the children of professional cyclists and it puts pause in these various studies.
PS Hey Marty congrats to you and the Mrs

[gopherhockey]

I love to see a post from December 02' get dragged back up again. Cool! Good thing I keep a years worth of posts around...

[ryno lite]

It's winter and we're bored, we have to do something!

[Kingbozo]

My guess is that mountain bikers take less of a pounding from the seat for a couple of reasons.

Tires-MTB tires cusion impacts a lot more than road tires.

Technique- A large amount mountain bike riding is off of the sadle. Most folks aren't going to be sitting through a rock garden.

Just thinkin out loud......

[guest_s]

Don't you have to try to have babies in order to be infertal????

[jjrsds]

Tom how would you even Know?